UBS Arena crowd not happy as Islanders fall to lowly Sabres, 7-1

Grievances were aired.

Repeatedly and loudly while another opportunity to create positive traction in a difficult campaign stalled.

Happy holidays.

Boos and chants of “Fire Lou!” and “Lou must go!” filled UBS Arena on Monday night throughout the Islanders’ thoroughly dispiriting 7-1 loss to the Sabres.

The chants were thunderous and repeated over the course of the game by a large swath of the crowd, especially in the third period.

The Islanders, who enter the NHL’s holiday break with a record of 13-15-7, needed Kyle Palmieri’s goal with 54.5 seconds left in the second period to save them from being shut out for the sixth time this season.

Ilya Sorokin, who set a personal NHL record with his 11th straight start, allowed six goals on 23 shots.

“It was not a good game,” Bo Horvat said. “We should be embarrassed.”

The Islanders had an opportunity to pass the Rangers for sixth in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams came into the day with 33 points and the Rangers were routed by the Devils, 5-0, in a matinee at Prudential Center.

Buffalo, the NHL’s resistible force and movable object, entered the game with the fewest points in the league (26) and in the midst of a 13-game winless streak. The Sabres had earned their last victory on Nov. 23 in San Jose.

So yes, the Islanders, finally fully healthy, had the kind of favorable circumstances teams need in order to make an upward move in the standings. Instead, coupled with Columbus’ 5-4 win over Montreal, the Islanders are in last place in the Metropolitan Division.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Horvat said. “We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

Buffalo (12-19-4) opened the scoring 2:07 into the first period on Beck Malenstyn’s third goal of the season. The Sabres’ fourth-line left winger deflected defenseman Bowen Bryram’s point shot past Sorokin.

Picturesque it was not. Nor were the 17 minutes and 53 seconds immediately following the goal as the period devolved into a choppy, stop-and-go contest that included six icings.

The best scoring chance the Islanders developed in the period was Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s two-on-one shorthanded chance that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen gloved with 4:10 remaining.

Luukkonen finished with 27 saves. The Sabres’ No. 1 goaltender had a 3.12 goals against average and .892 save percentage in the 23 games he played before Monday night.

Luukkonen’s glove save proved to be consequential exactly one minute later when Jiri Kulich extended Buffalo’s lead to 2-0 with a quick drive from the right circle.

As the period wound down, boos and chants of “Fire Lou!” rumbled throughout the $1 billion arena on the Queens and Long Island border.

Things did not appreciably improve in the second period. Instead, they deteriorated significantly.

Jason Zucker slammed a one-timer from the high slot for a power-play goal at 6:53. Zach Benson lifted a rebound over Sorokin nine minutes later. Jack Quinn scored his fourth of the season with 1:39 left.

After Quinn’s goal, a portion of the announced 17,255 in attendance chanted “Lou must go!”

With the Islanders trailing 5-1 entering the third period, Patrick Roy opted not to replace Sorokin in net with Marcus Hogberg.

“I spoke with Pierre [Greco, the goaltending coach] after the second,” Roy said. “He thought that Ilya had to fight it through.”

Roy did, however, pull Sorokin for an extra skater 8:07 into the period in an attempt to create offense. However, it backfired exactly two minutes later when Tage Thompson flipped his 17th goal of the season into the empty net.

“I will always try something,” Roy said. “We didn’t have enough support on that six-on-five to create more offense.”

After Kulich scored his second of the game with 4:11 left in the game, fans began throwing objects onto the ice, prompting an admonishment from the public address announcer.

Moments later, Sorokin stopped JJ Peterka’s snap shot and received sarcastic cheers from the crowd, which applauded another announcement: that one minute remained in the game.

Notes & quotes: Dennis Cholowski, Pierre Engvall and Matt Martin were scratched . . . UBS Arena will host the first professional hockey game in North America between two professional Israeli hockey teams as the Jerusalem Capitals will meet HC Tel Aviv on Sunday, March 23, at 5 p.m., Israel Elite Hockey Clubs announced Monday.